The Prodigal Sun: A Novel Read online

  “Okay, sounds good. I’m going to leave early and stop by Frank’s house on the way.”

  “You’re going to Frank’s place?” Jenny asked, her worried tone trickling through the line. He could feel her apprehensiveness causing him to frown as he continued playing with his pen.

  “Well, he was supposed to be in the office yesterday, according to his assistant, and he didn’t show up again today. I just want to make sure he’s okay and I have to let him know what’s going on at the lab. You know, the guy has been pretty good to me over the last few years. It’s the least I can do, and he was in the nightmare I had. It’s all making me uneasy,” John explained.

  “Okay, I’ll see you when you get there, by the way a package came for you today, Fed-Ex.”

  “A package came? Who sent me a package?” John asked raising his brow.

  “Not sure, it doesn’t have a return address, just some name stamped on it,” replied Jenny.

  “Okay, I’ll check it out when we get home, love you honey.”

  “Love you too, and John?”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t be late.”

  John hung up the phone and headed towards the main doors. He didn’t remember ordering anything. Who would be sending me a package? He thought. He gave Steve a slight wave as he passed him heading through the door.

  “Hey John, man, those guys were pissed! Bitched and complained all the way out the door,” Steve said shaking his head.

  “I hope they aren’t too brokenhearted, job security right? We need to keep money coming in,” John answered.

  “I’m hoping you’re right, Lord knows I need this job. They were talking all crazy John, talking about shutting us down.”

  “Don’t worry about it too much,” John replied, trying to sound reassuring, but he knew there were big problems ahead. Especially if he couldn’t figure out what happened at the lab. John walked outside through the main doors and quickly found his car. He got inside and lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag and letting it out slowly. He could feel himself relax slightly. He had been trying to quit smoking for years however, he just couldn’t seem to shake it for good and it certainly wasn’t going to happen today. The engine weakly turned over, but started, and John headed down LaSalle boulevard towards Frank’s side of town.

  Frank lived on the east side of Mill City close to Mill Lake, where all of the new homes were being built. John turned onto Lakeshore drive, heading towards some of the largest homes. John took another right on Boardwalk circle, Frank’s house was sided with cedar and was at the end of the dead-end street, making it hard to miss. It was also one of the few properties that had acreage that went behind the house, all the way to the lake. The water was barely visible through the trees, but it was only a few hundred feet away through the thick mature forest of hardwoods. It was one of only a few patches of virgin timber that were never cut down. John drove past the house, turned around and then parked on the opposite side of the street, just down from Frank’s driveway.

  I never did understand why the more money someone makes the more they spend on a house. However, the more they spend on a house, the less time they seem to have to spend at home enjoying it. John thought as he got out of the car and slowly walked up the driveway. There were no vehicles around and the house looked dark inside. He walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. After waiting several minutes he went around to the back, walked up onto the large deck, and then knocked on the back door. He peered inside the large picture window. Everything was neat and clean. Nothing seemed to be out of place. It looked as though no one had been there in quite a while. There was a huge fireplace off to one side of the great room with collections of all sorts on the mantel. Several built-in bookshelves ran along the far wall, loaded with books. Everything seems to be fine here. He thought.

  John walked back towards his car, but stopped to take a quick look in the garage. The door was locked, but there was a small window on the backside of the garage and John looked inside. He noticed right away that Frank’s BMW was gone, but otherwise nothing looked out of place or unusual. Maybe he just couldn’t get back from his vacation in time, missed a flight or something. John started back around the other side of the garage heading towards his car when something caught the corner of his eye in one of the windows. The hair on the back of John neck stood up and his heart jumped into his throat. John looked again but didn’t see anything. My eyes are playing tricks on me. He thought, taking one last look at the house before turning to leave, then something else caught his attention. There was fog on the glass of the main front window. Just like someone had breathed on it. Someone had been standing there watching him. There couldn’t be anyone here. He looked at the window again and convinced himself his eyes were playing tricks on him. “I think I’m going crazy,” John said aloud and walked quickly down the driveway. First nightmares and now I’m seeing things. But somehow he knew that he had seen something. It all had an eerie feeling and there was an unnerving silence hanging around Frank’s property like a thick fog. Not even a bird singing, weird. John thought. It left his stomach in knots again. He felt his heart start to race and John suddenly felt a very strong urge to leave as quickly as he could. He had to get going anyway to make it to the clinic on time. He turned and glanced at the house one more time and froze. Frank was standing directly in front of him at the end of the driveway.

  “Go home John, Go home and read the letter,” Frank said and disappeared in a blue wisp.

  “What the hell was that?” John said out loud as panic overtook him. He turned on his heels and ran towards his car as fast as he could. His fingers slipped off the door handle on the first try, but he managed to hit his mark the second time. He could feel his pulse thundering in his head as he opened the door and got in the driver’s seat. John immediately turned the key but nothing happened. “Oh come on, really, now? You’re going to do this to me now?” John yelled at his car in frustration as he turned the key frantically, but knew it would do no good. The eerie feeling that was making the hair on the back of John’s neck stand up was coming back again, re-enforcing the urge to get out of there as soon as possible. John glanced at his watch and shook his head, still talking to himself out loud. “I’m going to be late.” The last thing he wanted to do was get out of the car. John pounded his fist on the steering wheel and decided he better have a look under the hood. The dark clouds that had been rolling in since he got there looked to be about a thunderclap away from a downpour as he pulled the hood release and apprehensively got out to check the battery cables. He wiggled the thick wires back and forth, hoping it was just a bad connection, then looked over the engine compartment. John nervously glanced at his watch again and got back in the car to try the engine. There was a faint clicking, but that was all the drained battery could manage. Great, now I’m going to have to call someone. The blood in his veins felt like it was ready to boil in utter exasperation and annoyance. This is one of those days where I wish I had stayed in bed. John glanced towards Frank’s house as he pulled out his cell phone. He watched an outline of something move across the lawn, but couldn’t tell what it was. It looked like smoke or a shadow, but John knew there could be no shadows in the looming darkness of the storm. It moved directly in front of the car and suddenly every light bulb and LED in the vehicle lit up at once. Terror gripped him again as he grabbed the steering wheel, his knuckles immediately turned white from lack of blood flow. John looked out his side window and could see the first large drops of rain slap against the glass. All of the gauges in the car frantically flipped back and forth. John sat there looking straight ahead, frozen with the shock of what was happening. He managed to turn his head and looked out his window again, this time directly into Frank’s pale, ghostly face. The rest of his body was missing and only his face was visible, floating above the ground next to the car, two inches from John’s nose. Sweat began to run down John’s face and his heart pounded in his chest at a dangerous pace. The face wasn’t moving and its
eyes were closed in an opaque stone expression. John had a metallic taste in his mouth and was frozen in fear, unable to stop staring at the apparition of Frank in front of him.

  “Boo!” The Frank face suddenly said as it opened its eyes. John let out a yelp jumping off his seat so hard he banged his head on the roof of the car.

  “Now get your ass home!” the face said and then vanished as John’s hood suddenly slammed shut. He frantically turned the key and this time the engine immediately roared to life. John tried to wipe the sweat from his face as he jammed the car into gear. The sweat burned his eyes making it hard to see. He blindly swung around in the street, squealing his tires in a panic, as his cell phone began to ring. What is going on with me? Hallucinations are never a good sign John. And neither is talking to oneself. He thought as he picked up his phone. “Shit, Jenny!” He pressed the talk button and held it to his ear. “Hi honey.”

  “Don’t hi honey me, where the hell are you?”

  “Just leaving Frank’s, listen, you’ll never believe what happened to me here. I…”

  “Save it John! Typical.”

  “No wait, the battery was dead and the car wouldn’t start and…”

  Jenny angrily cut him off again. “I’ve been telling you to replace that battery for a month John! You are such a procrastinator and can never remember a damn thing. Look, just forget it. Barb stayed with me for additional moral support, I’ll get a ride home with her. Apparently Frank is more important than starting a family!”

  “Jen….” He knew it was too late, she hung up. “Damn it!” John yelled. How much more can a guy take in one day? He thought as he threw his phone across the car where it bounced off the dashboard and headed back towards him. He flinched out of the way and the phone deflected against the headrest next to his ear, then headed for the windshield. John instinctively reached in front of his face to grab it, missed, and batted it directly out the window. “Well God damn it to hell!” John roared, still trying to rub the sweat out of his burning eyes. “What else can go wrong today?” He slammed on the brakes just as a large municipal service truck with two tandem axles, towing a double tandem axle trailer, passed him on the road going the other way. John got out of his car and looked back in the direction of where he dropped the phone. He winced at the crunching sound each of the five tires made as they pulverized his phone into fragments.

  from bad to worse

  John made it home around 12:30, pulling into their long driveway. He felt light headed and his pulse was still racing from the events at Frank’s house. He was just beginning to overcome the fear that had taken his body hostage, but it was quickly replaced with guilt for not making it to the doctor appointment on time. His entire body hurt and he felt sick to his stomach. John got out of the car apprehensively. The anticipation of potential bad news from the doctor, along with Jenny’s reaction to his absence, showed across his face in a solemn expression of worry as he slowly walked towards the house. When he got halfway to the front door John noticed his niece, Aurora, playing by the house. As soon as she saw him coming up the walk her face lit up.

  “Uncle John, Uncle John!” Aurora called, running from the house towards him. A beautiful little blond haired princess that had just reached the ripe old age of six, going on sixteen. Her long blond curls flew out behind her as she ran. John squatted down on his haunches and Aurora ran full tilt into his arms, almost knocking him over.

  “Whoa, hey there munchkin!” He stood while keeping her in his arms. “How’s my princess? Hey, wait a minute, aren’t young lady‘s like you supposed to be in school?” John was trying to be strong and didn’t want to show his niece how terrible he was feeling. It took all the energy he had, but he forced a smile and pretended to be having the best day of his life. She hugged him tightly around the neck and then looked into his face with her big brown eyes.

  “Nope, not today Uncle John. I’m too sick. Thee? I hab a feber,” she replied through her plugged nose. Aurora grabbed his hand as they walked towards the house and put it on her forehead.

  “Oh no, that’s not good! You’re burning up,” John replied pulling his hand away from her scorching brow so he could kiss her forehead. “You know what makes fever’s go away?”

  “What?” Aurora asked, still looking intently into his eyes with her innocent face.

  “Airplane rides!” John immediately slung Aurora over to his side. He slipped his other arm under her legs and started running for the house as he held her small frame horizontally.

  “Yay!” she squealed with excitement, spreading her arms out beside her as John ran. They stopped in front of the door and John set Aurora down to turn the knob. Just then he caught something out of the corner of his eye. “Who’s that Uncle John?” Aurora asked, pointing towards the street at the end of the driveway. John looked closer and saw a black SUV with dark tinted windows slowly pass the driveway and turn around in the large circle where the street ended. It started heading back the way it came, but paused briefly at the entrance to John’s driveway. The windows were dark enough to conceal any occupants. John felt his heart skip a beat as he nervously wiped his brow. There wasn’t any reason for someone to drive this far down his street unless they were coming to his house.

  “I don’t know sweetie, let’s go inside,” John said, feeling his chest tighten again as he opened the door and picked Aurora up. He spun her around over his head as soon as they were inside the door and then gently placed her on her feet. She squealed again and then giggled once her feet touched down on the hardwood floor. Barb and Jenny were sitting on the sofa in the front room in the middle of a discussion, but stopped as soon as they came in the room. Aurora looked up at John with grown-up like concern on her small face.

  “I’m glad you could find your house Uncle John,” she said as she squeezed his hand. John got down on his knees so he could look her in the eye.

  “Well, now darling, why wouldn’t I be able to find my own house?” John asked as he put his hands on her shoulders.

  “Because Aunt Jenny told mommy that you forget stuff so much that you might not member where you live,” Aurora said with a tiny giggle.

  “That’s because he fell on his head when he was a kid,” explained Jenny before John could answer. Her expression showed a hint of contempt as she slouched into the couch, crossing her arms. Barb spoke up with a look of surprise, her eyebrows raised below a slightly wrinkled brow.

  “Really John, is that true? Or is Jen just saying that? I don’t think I ever heard that story.” She leaned in closer towards him. John turned towards Aurora while he explained the story. “Yep, it’s true. When I was about four I was playing up in the second story of our barn called the hay-mow. It’s where we kept all the food for the animals. Well there’s a hole in the floor for throwing the hay down to where the animals stay. Well you know what?” John continued with an animated expression. “I was playing too close to that hole and I fell right through it! I landed right on my head onto the concrete floor ten feet below with a crack!.” John slapped his hands together for effect then touched his index finger to his right eyebrow and drew an imaginary line around his head behind his ear. “I fractured, or broke, my skull all the way from my eyebrow to three inches behind my right ear. The doctors said it was a miracle I lived, and with no brain damage.”

  “That’s debatable,” Jenny chimed in again, eager to show John she was still upset with him.

  “You broke your head Uncle John? You didn’t lose any brains though?” Aurora had a silly and confused look on her face.

  “Nope, I still got them all.”

  “Also debatable,” Jenny repeated.

  John ignored the comment from Jenny. He knew he deserved some harassing for not being at the appointment. He gave Aurora a big hug. “So it’s a good thing you were here so all I had to do was drive around the neighborhood until I saw the most beautiful princess in the world in the front yard, right?” Aurora stared at him, beaming, while Barbara stood up and walked over to them. br />
  “Oh John, You’re so good with kids. You would make such an excellent father” There was a gasp from Jenny’s side of the sofa. She stood up glaring at Barbara, who immediately realized her mistake.

  “Jeez Barb! Some sister you are! You really have a way of saying the worst thing at the worst possible time don’t you?” Jenny asked then started sobbing as she ran up the stairs and down the hall to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

  “Jen, I’m sorry,” Barb yelled up the stairs with her head cocked to one side and an apologetic look on her brow. She turned to John. “Well, I guess I’ve worn out my welcome. Sorry John, I wasn’t thinking. She’s taking this pretty hard you know.” Barb scooped up Aurora and headed for the door. John gave them both a quick hug.

  John felt a twinge of anxiety creep up his chest as he thought about what the results could be, realizing they obviously weren’t good. “I’m guessing the appointment didn’t go well?”

  “You guys should really talk about it. It‘s not my place and I should get going.” Barb grabbed her purse off the floor with her free hand and opened the front door.

  “Okay, bye ladies, I hope you feel better sweetie.” John rubbed the top of Aurora’s head. They walked out the door and John closed it behind them. He let out a breath of relief that the company was gone before he walked back through the quiet house. “Honey,” he called as he climbed the stairs. “Jen?” he called again and headed towards their bedroom. He opened the door and walked in. Jenny was lying on the bed, still sobbing. John lay down beside her and kissed her on the forehead. Jenny put her arms around him and pulled him close, sobbing into his chest. “I take it that means it was bad news?” he whispered. John could feel himself tearing up a little as he held her close. “What did the doc say?”